Processing real-time video

Abstract

Real-time video processing functionality may be provided using pre-processing and/or post-processing features to provide a video signal. Components of a real-time video processing system may operate to receive a real-time video signal. The real-time video signal may be downscaled based in part on the use of features of a pre-processing component applying a downscale polyphase filter that may be used to compensate for bandwidth constraints associated with a real-time video conferencing environment. The downscaled real-time video may be communicated across a network, such as the Internet. Upon receipt of the downscaled real-time video, the downscaled real-time video may be upscaled based in part on the use of features of a post-processing component applying an upscale polyphase filter.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of processing real-time video comprising:
 receiving a real-time video signal within a video conferencing application where a plurality of users are sharing the same bandwidth-constrained channel to transmit the real-time video signal; 
 downscaling the real-time video signal with a polyphase downscale filter; 
 encoding the real-time video signal; 
 communicating the real-time video signal across a network; 
 decoding the real-time video signal; 
 upscaling the real-time video signal with a polyphase upscale filter; and 
 sharpening the upscaled real-time video signal, wherein sharpening upscaled real-time video signal comprises:
 masking a pixel within the video frame; 
 obtaining a correction factor by attenuating the resultant masked pixel value by a pre-determined gain value; 
 applying a saturation function to the correction factor; 
 determining whether the value of each pixel combined with the correction factor is greater than a pre-determined value; and 
 updating the pixel if the pixel combined with the correction factor is not greater than a pre-determined value. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: applying the sharpening algorithm of  claim 1  to all pixels within the frame except pixels located on the border of the frame. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: applying the sharpening algorithm of  claim 1  to each color channel associated with the real-time video signal. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: receiving the real-time video signal from a web-based video camera. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 monitoring the bandwidth availability on the network; 
 determining a threshold level of data that can be transmitted on the network; and 
 applying the threshold to the downscaling and upscaling polyphase filters. 
 
     
     
       6. A real-time video processing device comprising:
 a video acquisition device configured to capture a real-time video signal within a video conferencing application where a plurality of users are sharing the same bandwidth-constrained channel to transmit the real-time video signal; 
 a pre-processor configured to:
 process the captured real-time video signal; 
 provide a set of pre-processed pixel data, the set of pre-processed pixel data including a subset of pixels associated with a first frame of pixel data from the real-time video signal; and 
 define a second frame of pixel data requiring less bandwidth to communicate than the first frame of pixel data by use of a polyphase downscale filter; 
 
 a post-processor configured to:
 process the second frame of pixel data; 
 provide a set of post-processed pixel data, the set of post-processed pixel data including a plurality of reconstructed pixel values determined in part by multiplying a plurality of pixel values from the second frame of pixel data by a plurality of weights to obtain a reconstructed real-time video frame associated with the captured real-time video signal by the use of a polyphase upscale filter; 
 
 an encoder configured to encode the second frame of pixel data; 
 a decoder configured to decode the encoded pixel data; and 
 a sharpening processor configured to sharpen the reconstructed real-time video frame, wherein the sharpening processor is configured to:
 mask a pixel within the reconstructed real-time video frame; 
 obtain a correction factor by attenuating the resultant masked pixel value by a pre-determined gain value; 
 apply a saturation function to the correction factor; 
 determine whether the value of each pixel combined with the associated correction factor is greater than a pre-determined value; and 
 update the pixel if the pixel combined with the correction factor is not greater than a pre-determined value. 
 
 
     
     
       7. The real-time video processing device of  claim 6 , where the video acquisition device comprises: a video camera capable of capturing a real-time video signal. 
     
     
       8. The real-time video processing device of  claim 6 , wherein the sharpening processor is configured to sharpen all pixels except pixels located on the border of the reconstructed real-time video frame. 
     
     
       9. The real-time video processing device of  claim 6 , wherein the sharpening processor is configured to: sharpen each color channel associated with the real-time video signal. 
     
     
       10. The real-time video processing device of  claim 6 , further comprising: a monitoring processor configured to: monitor bandwidth availability on the network; determine a threshold level of high-quality video data that can be transmitted on the network; and apply the threshold of data to be transmitted to the downscaling and upscaling polyphase filters.